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Keb wrote:If you guys ever find yourselves in a situation involving an angry black person and go home and reflect on that situation and ask yourselves why black people are so angry, please search and read through this thread. You will understand exactly why black people are so angry.

So it's not because of slavery and years of subsequent racism, it's because people don't like race-bending?

xaraan wrote:I guess I'll be the bad guy, the change in race doesn't bother me as much as the hypocrisy that if the situation were reversed, there would be uproar.

That being said, if I were going to change one of the two Storms, I'd just change all four of them to black characters; might be interesting and lord knows the FF could use some interesting.

I think it comes down to what I said earlier, most black characters seem to have blackness imbedded into their characters, whereas, white characters, there's nothing that says they have to be white.

This is because of writers writing shitty token characters back in the 1970s and also the fact that white culture is the norm and not something people celebrate or tie-in to their identity (unless they are super-racist), no normal white guy is like, 'Yeah, I'm white! I'm proud of being white!', they find other ways to define themselves, such as being Southern, or Irish, or from New York or being Mormon or whatever.

Whereas minority characters are pretty much always defined by their race, for good or ill.

Punchy wrote:So it's not because of slavery and years of subsequent racism, it's because people don't like race-bending?

It's the fact that the dude hasn't even been given a chance to play the role and people are already bitching about it. You've stated and I know that Michael B. Jordan is a very capable actor not just at getting addicted to smack and getting shot by Bodie and Poot but also as in a sci-fi super-powered teenager role because he was great in Chronicle. The wonderful thing about Chronicle is that his character could have been white or black or yellow or mauve or whatever.

The problem is that people keep seeing this as a racial issue or a race-bending thing and they don't actually look beyond the color of the skin. It's an issue because they don't think it's necessary to change the race. If that's your issue, then that means you really aren't seeing beyond the surface. If Michael B. Jordan was a terrible actor and was going to sink the F4 movie franchise with a terrible performance, then the issue would be his (lack of) acting ability. However, that's not the case. Most people here seem to take issue with the fact that his skin tone is brown while the fictional Johnny Storm's skin tone is like a pale, peachy, white-pink color.

At the end of the day, characters can be any color (yes, even black ones). Johnny Storm's traits are such that he represents a universal archetype: reckless teenager/twenty-something male. That archetype can be represented by anyone, no matter what race they are, because there is always a reckless teenager/twenty-something male out there who loves to fix cars and bone chicks, doesn't matter what race he is.

xaraan wrote:I guess I'll be the bad guy, the change in race doesn't bother me as much as the hypocrisy that if the situation were reversed, there would be uproar.

That being said, if I were going to change one of the two Storms, I'd just change all four of them to black characters; might be interesting and lord knows the FF could use some interesting.

What hypocrisy? The difference between white Marvel comics characters and black Marvel comics characters is that the black characters usually have their race play an important role in who they are. Most white characters don't even realize they're white and in a lot of cases, that person could be anyone when they put on the mask.

For example: Spider-Man could be anyone behind that mask. No matter what race. Even Peter Parker's problems are universal, every dude has them no matter what race he is. The Black Panther couldn't go that way. The fact that he's the king of a secret African nation and that his duty is to protect his people from the would-be colonizers factors heavily into how his character is perceived.

The problem with minority comic book characters is that minority ends up being a big factor in what defines them when really it shouldn't. Even the idea of "minority" just segregates them even more from the rest. The thing is, these fictional characters are not (or should not) be defined by race, gender and age but rather by the archetypes and symbols they represent. As PSA as it sounds, the minute we stop looking at the surface and start look at what's going on underneath, that's when we can really begin to accept and reject.

If Michael B. Jordan plays Johnny Storm like another character on the Wire, then yeah, this casting was no good. But if he plays him like Johnny Storm in the comics, then it's a good casting. Considering his performance in Chronicle (a surprisingly good movie), I think he'll do the latter. Just accept it. He's not "black", he's just a dude.

If you've seen Friday Night Lights, you'll know that Jordan can pull off a Johnny Storm type very well, his character Vince is a cocky, teenage Quarterback, but he has a lot of depth and heart behind the bravado.

Since Taylor Kitsch's attempts to take over Hollywood failed, it's great to see another FNL guy do well.

For me, it's the same scenario as casting Peter Parker. Depending upon the era the movie takes place, the race/ethnicity can be a vital component. If this were the early 60s space race FF, then yes, Johnny would pretty much have to be white or some significant backstory would be added as to how a black kid in that time period could be a semi-professional stockcar driver (or extreme racer, whatevs) adrenaline junkie.

Since they're setting this in a contemporary setting (I presume?), it really doesn't matter what race/ethnicity Johnny & Sue Storm are--but they do need to be the same, imo. Adoption is awesome, but we don't need another layer to the family dynamic.

Of course, Donald Glover could have played Peter Parker, but Hollywood and fanboys are racists fucks who wouldn't recognize DG is the epitome of Peter Parker.